Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1887-03-18

lerNoT ana ueItn tuu pure Tone o.
purely soulful passion and true love Of
%thinness, a lightness, n discordant elemen'
of selfish pride in the ownership of {
beautiful, accomplished, sensible, usefu
woman. The same praise he might have
bestowed on a handsome horse.
He, of course, would have resented sucf
q charge had it been made against
him. To be sure, there was a differ
ence between his real regard for his
wife and that of a horse, but the
difference i'll conduct toward them was but
%trifling; the horse receiving the mosttende,
care, and appreciative caresses, while his
wife's sou%l-infuence drew him to her and
ness, a happiness that no other woman's
could have done. But he considered the
expression of soft sentiment, as he called
it, the sign of weakness, u~ndignified in a
man; no man who respected himself would
be guilty of such silly weakness"
In some vague way, he felt that the new
ness, the brightness, the pure freshness
produced with his wife's little store, and
by her creative hand, had a soothing, sat-
isfying influence upon him.
He admired her taste, and told her so
with such q business-like air that she
turned away, a suppressed sigh almost es-
Gaping her lips.
She feared that she did not fully UNDER
stand her husband, and she keenly realized
that he did not comprehend her finer ma
tule.
Deep-seated in her nature there was a
strong, keen sense of independence and a
hight of royal pride that forbade her ask
ing for that which was r%ightfully hers, and
should be awarded gladly and freely with
out the asking.
She felt her husband drifting farther and
farther away from her, and she powerless
to prevent it, or able to draw him back.
Walter Clayton was fast becoming the
mad been before him. Economy was, in
his opinion, the model virtue. Everything
else must give way to his order Of business.
He would have considered it highly
~presumptuous innovation on his.
lordly prerogativc, and an objectionable
insult to his wisdom. for his wife to have
mentioned such a thing as keeping ahouse-
servant. His mother had always managed
her W house-work without hired help
until the last two or three years of her life,
when she had become a %paralytic.
Economy was doubly necessary nov, as
be yet owed something to the other heirs,
and there were so many improvements TO
be made.
Machinery and hands must be furnished
on the farm; he could not economic here.
All of these things aided in the production
and the saving of money. No, economy
must be practiced in the house; extra con-
veniences and hired help here consumed
money. and, according to his profound
reasoning, brought none in TO the general
hoard.
Thus six weary years had flown back
ward into the eternal past; mother cares
had increased, and household duties en-
larged until they were becoming too heavy
for n woman to bear. The newness, and
brightness, and freshness that Kate Clay
ton had added TO her home were becoming
sadly worn of, andin some parts even shab-
biness was creeping in steadily and surely.
Mr.. Clayton never gave her money now
except grudgingiy, and for the most
necessary things. This she must make
reach far beyond its legitimate, or ut least
ordinary, capacity for use.
Mrs. Clayton fully realized that all of
these heavy burdens were becoming too
much of a strain on her strength and
health.
Long since the place was clear of debt;
everything now seemed completed for an
easy and comfortable management of the
the labor expended; consequently large
profits, which might have provided ease
and luxuries for all, but which was duly
deposited in the bank for the purpose Of
purchasing other real estate.
The grain harvest was now in full blast;
two reapers were doing a driving business,
and two "sets" of hands were to be pro-
vided with the comforts Of q home.
Walter Clayton did not stop to consider
that since the farm required more than two
Or three extra hands during harvest time,
that two sisters, older than himself, with
strong, willing hands, had helped his
mother in those duties.
At the beginning of the harvest Mrs.
Clayton had consulted her husband about
securing a good, stout girl to assist her with
the work through harvest. This suggestion
was met with such q stare of evident sur
prise and a "Why, Kate, mother never hired
q girl in harvest in her life! Don't you
think that o can get along this season,
and we shall be better able next?" She felt
that she dared not trust herself to lay the
case before him then: besides, her pride
held back her resentment of his injustice.
But the time had now come when she
must claim her right, and she could easily
see that it was no easy task that Law before
her.
However, she was not q woman that
would shrink from a duty, however dis
agreeable it might be, when she had once
decided in her honest mind that in my GER
tain course lay that duty. Neither was she
a weak, humble, trembling, cringing.
pleading slave before a master; she ac-
knowledged no master, although for years
she had quietly and peacefully submitted
to her husbands judgment, secretly hoping,
ever hoping against the stronger conviction
in her heavy heart, that she might, without
clash, work a change for the better condi-
ton and harmony in their domestic and
soul relations, yet was hope ever per-
sistent.
She had given all-tender, strong, earnest
love, self sacrificing devotion, patient suf-
fering and forbearance-and had received
SO little in return but careless indifference,
with scarcely even q smile of APP
proyal.
Mrs. Clayton held to the principle of in
dividual sovereignty-the moral right to
exercise individual judgment, more espe-
cially when justice to others demands it.
And did not justice to her little ones, also
to her husbands better self, demand that
she should now exercise q little of her own
Judgment? This she had decided to do
that night when she decided that she would
hire Mary Smith on the morrow.
Mary Smith had offered her services to
Mrs. Clayton that day, and was to receive
a decisive reply the following day.